The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to methods and devices for displaying images and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to such methods and devices that allow seeing images from a broad viewing angle, for example, from 360° around the image.
The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a computerized user interface system, and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a user interface system including a floating-in-the-air display.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2006-0171008 describes a three-dimensional (3D) display system. The 3D display system includes a projector device for projecting an image upon a display medium to form a 3D image. The 3D image is formed such that a viewer can view the image from multiple angles up to 360 degrees. Multiple display media are described, namely a spinning diffusive screen, a circular diffuser screen, and an aerogel. The spinning diffusive screen utilizes spatial light modulators to control the image such that the 3D image is displayed on the rotating screen in a time-multiplexing manner. The circular diffuser screen includes multiple, simultaneously-operated projectors to project the image onto the circular diffuser screen from a plurality of locations, thereby forming the 3D image. The aerogel can use the projection device described as applicable to either the spinning diffusive screen or the circular diffuser screen. While this publication sometimes calls the 3-D image a hologram, in fact, the display media taught thereby generate non-holographic 3-D images.
Some computer generated three dimensional displays are known. Some use micro-lenses on flat screens. Some include computer generated holograms which can be viewed from a relatively narrow angle.
A class of three-dimensional (3D) displays, called volumetric displays, is currently undergoing rapid advancement. The types of displays in this class include swept volume displays and static volume displays. Volumetric displays allow for three-dimensional (3D) graphical scenes to be displayed within a true 3D volume. That is, a volumetric display is not a projection of volumetric data onto a 2D display but a true physical 3D volume.
Some user interfaces display location of a user input indicator in a first, display space, translating the location of the user input from a second space, which is the input space. One example of such a user interface is a mouse, where an indicator on a computer screen moves corresponding to motions of the mouse, in which the mouse moves on a desk, in one coordinate system, and the indicator moves on the screen, in a second coordinate system.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,528,823 to Balakrishnan et al. describes a system that creates a volumetric display and a user controllable volumetric pointer within the volumetric display. The user can point by aiming a beam which is vector, planar or tangent based, positioning a device in three-dimensions in association with the display, touching a digitizing surface of the display enclosure or otherwise inputting position coordinates. The cursor can take a number of different forms including a ray, a point, a volume and a plane. The ray can include a ring, a bead, a segmented wand, a cone and a cylinder. The user designates an input position and the system maps the input position to a 3D cursor position within the volumetric display. The system also determines whether any object has been designated by the cursor by determining whether the object is within a region of influence of the cursor. The system also performs any function activated in association with the designation.
White-boarding is a term used to describe the placement of shared files on an on-screen “shared notebook” or “whiteboard”. Videoconferencing and data conferencing software often includes tools that let the user mark up the electronic whiteboard much as one would with a traditional wall-mounted board. A general property of this type of software is to allow more than one person to work on the image at any one time, with the two versions being kept in sync with one another in near real time.
Haptic feedback, often referred to as simply “haptics”, is the use of the sense of touch in a user interface design to provide information to an end user. When referring to mobile phones and similar devices, this generally means the use of vibrations from the device's vibration alarm to denote that a touch-screen button has been pressed. In this particular example, the phone would vibrate slightly in response to the user's activation of an on-screen control, making up for the lack of a normal tactile response that the user would experience when pressing a physical button. The resistive force that some “force feedback” joysticks and video game steering wheels provide is another form of haptic feedback.
Background art includes:    U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,238 to McPheters;    U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,045 to McPheters;    U.S. Pat. No. 7,528,823 to Balakrishnan et al;    US Published Patent Application No. 2006/0171008 of Mintz et al; and    An article titled “Overview of three-dimensional shape measurement using optical methods”, by Chen F., Brown G. M., Song M., published in Opt. Eng. 39(1) 10-22 (January 2000).